Summer camp at the College for Creative Studies is far more than glue and glitter. These day camps for youth and teens expose kids to options that could, someday, become their career.

With week-long camps for photography and Photoshop, character animation and automotive design for youth ages 8-13 – and shoe design, glass blowing and street art camps for teens ages 14-plus, there is something for every student. And, they don’t need any experience in their area of interest prior to attending camp.

Campers will be offered unique opportunities to keep their minds active during summer vacation, says Jane Stewart, the director of Precollege and Continuing Studies at CCS.

“Students in the Design-Your-Own Sneakers class will work with our Fashion Accessories Design Class to design and sew the shoes,” Stewart says. “In the end, they walk away wearing a pair of shoes that they designed and created.”

In a different class, Stewart says, “local artist Sydney G. James, known for her work on MTV and “Murals in the Market,” will take the students to Eastern Market for a tour and then they will create their own 4-foot by 8-foot painting.”

- Advertisement -

Classes are taught by professionals, Stewart says, who work well with kids and help them explore new creative avenues.

“It’s a very unique opportunity that we are offering with the types of classes we have available,” she says. “It’s so fun to see the spark light up in the students when they make a connection. We think of art and design and drawing skills to be much like playing the piano. It’s not a question of natural talent, it’s a skill set that can be learned through practice.”

The College for Creative Studies is holding the sessions at the Detroit campus as well as the Plymouth Arts and Recreation Complex, also known as PARC.

“We wanted to bring our summer camps to another area of Detroit and expose more students to the creative careers available to them. We have three classrooms available in the PARC for our west-side campers,” Stewart says.

The camps are designed with working parents in mind, too, Stewart adds. They run daily from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. with before- and after-camp care available – and for those working in Detroit, these extended-day enrichment programs, run by CCS art education majors, are free.

The CCS summer camps have a range of prices, but scholarships are available to those who qualify. The deadline for the scholarship applications is Saturday, March 31, 2018.